Mission Planning for Robotic and Human Exploration Jessica J. Marquez, Ph.D. NASA Ames Research Center

Outline

•  What is Mission Planning? •  Why is planning for space missions hard? •  Highlight of specialized mission planning

software tools •  Future mission planning tools: Analogs

and Mars

Spaceflight Mission Operations

Mission  Opera,ons  Integra,on  

Program  Requirem’ts  

Mission  Facili,es  

Training  Facili,es  

Mission  Execu,on  

Mission  Training  

Mission  Products  

Mission  Planning  

Mission  Design  

Plan-Train-Fly Model http://appel.nasa.gov/2009/03/01/plan-train-and-fly-mission-operations-from-apollo-to-shuttle/

Types of Mission Planning

Strategic

Tactical

Operational

•  Strategic: focuses on identifying goals & coordinating with major events.

•  Tactical: focuses on how to achieve goals with the given resources.

•  Operational: exact implementation of plan.

•  Both robotic & human spaceflight missions follow this process. –  Difference: Implementation

of operational planning.

Mission Planning 101

Goal: Analyze composition of Martian rock for scientists back on Earth.

Mission Planning 101

Strategic: Allocate three days for rock analysis ²  Drive to rock ²  Sample rock ²  Analyze rock ²  Send analysis results back to Earth

Mission Planning 101

Tactical: Drive to rock ²  How far is the rover? ²  Does the rover have enough power to drive there? ²  When can we send the commands to drive? ²  Has the rover arrived to the right location?

Mission Planning 101 Tactical: Sample rock ²  Can rover sample rock? Is rover driving? ²  How move rover arm to right sample area? ²  Does the rover have enough power to sample? ²  When can we send the commands to sample? ²  Did the rover sample the right area?

Tactical: Analyze rock ²  Does the rover have enough power to analyze? ²  Does the rover have enough memory for data? ²  When can we send the commands to sample? ²  When can we get the data?

Mission Constraints

Marquez & Newman (2007) “Recommendations for Real-Time Decisions Support Systems for Lunar and Planetary EVAs” International Conference on Environmental Systems

Environmental Constraints

Mission Objectives

Mission Resources

Models

Mission Constraints

Operational Constraints

Operational Plan

Safety Margin

Optimize

Tactical & Ops Planning Flow

Ac,vity  Planning  

Ac,vity  Scheduling  

Command  Sequencing  Execu,on  

Execu,on  Assessment  

Constraints  

Can you imagine all the constraints, resources, and activities required for the International

Space Station?!

SPIFe: Scheduling & Planning InterFace

2003 2015 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Mars RoversInternational Space Station

Playbook

ISS Self-Scheduling

Analog Mission Self-Scheduling

Assisted Replanning

L A S S LADEE Activity Scheduling System

Power Planning & Analysis Tool

Score

Phoenix Lander

SPIFe Scheduling & Planning Interface for Exploration

Phoenix Science Interface

Mars Exploration Rover: Maestro & MAGPEN

MSLICE Mars Science Laboratory Interface

APEX

ISS Orbital Position & Orientation

Thruster Maneuvers, Reboosts

Docking Events

•  Streamline planning, integrating multiple tools •  Facilitates coordination process between

International Partners

APEX •  Automatic integration of

input data & generation of output products •  Significant reduction of

manual entry

ISS Power Planning

PLATO •  Automatic integration of input data

from various flight controller disciplines

•  Integration of new and legacy power analysis engines

•  Facilitating power management –  Power produced vs. power consumed –  Scheduling powerdowns –  Automatic generation of shared products

ISS Crew Planning & Scheduling Score (part of OPTIMIS toolkit) •  Schedule integrates crew, ground, and payload activities

alongside ISS state information (e.g., orientation, communication availability). –  Contributions from multiple flight controller disciplines, Marshall

Space Flight Center, and International Partners (Russia, Japan, European Union).

•  Planning ranges from six months (1 increment) through one day (real-time planning).

•  Integrates variety of external software interfaces and data; automated updates. –  Plan Change Requests, Templates, Comm Availability

calculations, Procedures. •  Flexible resource modeling and violations checking, enabling

resource planning. •  Unique capabilities: real-time, simultaneous plan editing and

seamless plan version control.

Score: Crew & Ground Planning

Integration of Planning SW Tools

Integrated Replanning: HTV

Preparing for Future Needs

Earth Analogs: BASALT •  Simulating Mars operations: low

bandwidth & communication latency

•  Evaluating different technological capabilities

Support for Planning Execution & Crew-centric Re-Planning

Tighter & More Integrated Planning Process

Integrated Human-Robotic Planning with teams of diverse agents, requiring

geospatial planning

Future Mission Planning Challenges

Questions? Jessica.J.Marquez@nasa.gov